As the Christmas cheer fades and the bleak reality of winter sets in, politics has reverted to type. The most staggering aspect of parliament’s first week back was just how “normal” it felt. After six years of extraordinary once-in-a-generation political crises, bread and butter politics (in England at least) has returned. Energy security. Inflation. And the dreaded culture war.
So oddly normal was the first full week of the new year that you could have been forgiven for confusing it with pre-2015 politics. A Tory prime minister once again taking a battering from his right, a cost-of-living-crisis once again on voters’ lips, and a slightly nasal Labour leader once again enjoying a lead in the polls.
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